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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Announces Pregnancy

'I’ll be PM & a mum'
SAEED KHAN via Getty Images

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she is three months pregnant, and that she and her partner Clarke Gayford are expecting their first child by the middle of the year.

“And we thought 2017 was a big year! Clarke and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we’ll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats,” she wrote on Facebook.

“I think it’s fair to say that this will be a wee one that a village will raise, but we couldn’t be more excited,” she added.

Pakistan’s Benizar Bhutto was the first elected world leader to become pregnant while in office, giving birth to her second child in 1990.

Ardern became New Zealand’s prime minister on Oct. 26, 2017, making her the third woman to take the office in the country. She said she found out about her pregnancy on Oct. 13, days before it was announced she would take office.

Ardern’s deputy, Winston Peters, will be acting prime minister for the six weeks after Ardern has her child in June, New Zealand News website stuff.co.nz reports.

“At the end of my leave I will resume all Prime Ministerial duties,” Ardern explained.

Gayford, Ardern’s partner, will be their child’s primary caregiver, Arden wrote. “Knowing that so many parents juggle the care of their new babies, we consider ourselves to be very lucky,” she added.

Ardern said the pregnancy was a surprise because she and Gayford had been told they would need help to conceive.

“That’s made this news a fantastic surprise,” she said.

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